Charles Albert | |||||
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King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy | |||||
Reign | 27 April 1831 – 23 March 1849 | ||||
Coronation | 27 April 1831 | ||||
Predecessor | Charles Felix | ||||
Successor | Victor Emmanuel II | ||||
Prime Ministers | |||||
Born |
Palazzo Carignano, Turin |
2 October 1798||||
Died | 28 July 1849 Porto, Portugal |
(aged 50)||||
Burial | 14 October 1849 Royal Basilica, Turin |
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Spouse | Maria Theresa of Austria (m. 1817–49); his death | ||||
Issue |
Victor Emmanuel II Prince Ferdinando, Duke of Genoa Princess Maria Cristina |
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House | Savoy (Carignano line) | ||||
Father | Charles Emmanuel of Savoy | ||||
Mother | Maria Christina of Saxony | ||||
Religion | Roman Catholicism |
Full name | |
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Carlo Alberto Emanuele Vittorio Maria Clemente Saverio di Savoia |
Charles Albert (Italian: Carlo Alberto I; 2 October 1798 – 28 July 1849) was the King of Sardinia from 27 April 1831 to 23 March 1849. His name is bound up with the first Italian constitution, the Albertine Statute and the First Italian War of Independence (1848–1849).
During the Napoleonic period, he resided in France, where he received a liberal education. As Prince of Carignano in 1821, he granted and then withdrew his support for a rebellion which sought to force Victor Emmanuel I to institute a constitutional monarchy. He became a conservative and participated in the legitimist expedition against the Spanish liberals in 1823.
He became king of Sardinia in 1831 on the death of his distant cousin Charles Felix, who had no heir. As king, after an initial conservative period during which he supported various European legitimist movements, he adopted the idea of a federal Italy, led by the Pope and freed from the House of Habsburg in 1848. In the same year he granted the Albertine Statute, the first Italian constitution, which remained in force until 1947.
Charles Albert led his forces against the Imperial Austrian army in the First Italian War of Independence (1848–1849), but was abandoned by Pope Pius IX and Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and was defeated in 1849 at the Battle of Novara, after which he abdicated in favour of his son, Victor Emmanuel II. Charles Albert died in exile a few months later in the Portuguese city of Oporto.